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Chapter Text

The Flash was nervous. He had taken down bad guy after bad guy without breaking a sweat. He had even helped take down a robotic alien who had been trying to take over the universe. But what he was about to do, was a whole new level of nerve-racking. The Justice League was currently looking into expanding it’s numbers. And Wally would much rather take on the Reverse Flash then try to find someone who could live up to Batman’s expectations.

Wally believed he knew just the person to bring into the team. The guy was smart and an incredible fighter, but he was scared that Batman wouldn’t share his opinion. You see, his friend didn’t have any powers. Or at least that’s what the guy claimed; Wally wasn’t even sure how the guy did what he did. Leap across rooftops without flight? Win fights without ever having a hit land on him without super speed? Stay hidden from enhanced eye-sight and hearing without the ability to turn invisible? In addition to his skills, the guy was crazy smart.

Wally knew his friend was more than capable of keeping up with the Justice League. Hell, sometimes Wally felt like the slow and dumb one next to him. Wally just wasn’t sure the rest of the League would see that. They would think that the guy was too young (younger than Wally even, and he was only 26!) and too… happy?

His friend was the kind of person who always seemed to be smiling, a huge contrast to some members of the League, especially the dark Knight. If his friend ever met Batman, The Flash was convinced that his friend would make it his life's mission to make Batman laugh, then attempt to hug him.

Flash didn’t think that would turn out well, but he was still determined to nominate his friend for membership. The Flash was convinced that he would be beneficial to the League. Not just for his skills, but his big heart too.

The members of the Justice League were currently sitting around a circular table, looking over files of vigilantes from across the world. So far, Batman had found an undesirable aspect for each nominee.

Flash took a deep breath, “I know someone who I think would be an incredible asset to the League.”

“Flash, if you nominate that long-haired weirdo you work with, I’m going to clobber you with my mace,” Hawkgirl threatened.

“What? No! “Flash exclaimed looking offended. “First of all, Vibe is a very capable crime fighter and a great friend. Number two, no I was not going to nominate him.”

“Then who do you suggest?” Batman inquirred.

Well, it was now or never. “Nightwing, “Flash replied.

There was a moment of silence that was broken by Wonder Woman, “I have never heard of this ‘Nightwing’ before.”

“Not entirely surprised,” Wally responded as Batman began to bring up his file ( of course he has a file for Nightwing; he’s Batman ), “Nightwing’s from a small city, Bludhaven, and prefers to keep a lower profile.”

The League continued to discuss Nightwing’s capabilities, The Flash adding insights to who Nightwing was. “Honesty, if it wasn’t for the drastic differences in personality, Nightwing would remind me a lot of Batman in terms of capabilities.”

Many eyebrows were raised at that statement. “Speaking of Batman,” Martian Man-hunter inquired, “you have been unusually quiet.”

“Yeah Batman, you’ve found a problem with every candidate so far, but you haven’t said a word about Nightwing,“ Green Lantern said.

“Or are you just embarrassed that your file on him is so small?” Hawkgirl teased.

Batman glared at her. “While Nightwing possesses many skills, he is very young and lacks maturity. But overall, he is the best candidate we have.”

Silence conveyed around the table. The faces of the league ranged from shock to confusion. Batman never gave compliments. While Flash knew Nightwing was a spectacular vigilante, he couldn’t comprehend how Batman would share his opinion, especially seeing as how his file on him was so small. How did Batman draw that conclusion? From the state of his file, he knows very little about Nightwing.

Wally did not understand it, but he also knew he had to tell them the truth about Nightwing. “There is one more thing,” Wally paused as the eyes of the Justice League rested upon him. “Nightwing doesn’t have any powers.”

“No powers?” Wonder Woman questioned, “Then why would you suggest him?”

“Yeah, the stuff we do is too dangerous for normal humans,” Superman agreed.

To everyone’s surprise, it was Batman who came to Nightwing’s defense, “Nightwing already fights crime on a daily basis, fighting criminals with us will not be a drastic change.”

“Powers do not make you a warrior,” Hawkgirl added.

“Nightwing’s achievements are all the more impressive knowing he did so without powers,” Martian Man-hunter added, looking at the articles from the Bludhaven newspapers.

“We fight to protect those without powers from those who abuse their powers!” Wonder Woman argued.

Batman countered, “Powers are not needed to hurt others nor required to help them; it just makes it easier.”

Wonder Woman looked taken back, “I’m surprised at you Batman. I thought you of all us would be most against endangering the helpless.

“Nightwing’s not helpless!” Flash protested.

“What do you think J’onn?” Wonder Woman demanded, ignoring the Flash.

J’onn, ever the most calm, stated, “I do not believe that having no powers makes one helpless, and therefore unfit for League membership. Afterall, Batman himself does not have any powers.”

Stunned silence enveloped the room. Flashes’ brain felt as if it had short circuited. He had seen Batman do the impossible many, many times… and he had done all of it without powers ?

“What?” Green Lantern uttered in disbelief.

Batman remained emotionless as ever.

“You do not possess powers?” Wonder Woman gasped.

“No,” Batman stated.

“Daaaamn,” Hawkgirl said, her voice filled with respect.

Batman rose from his seat, “And I never needed powers to do my job.” Batman walked towards the door, “I suggest that you reevaluate your thoughts concerning Nightwing.”

That… is not what I expected, Flash thought.

The remaining Justice League members looked at each other, shocked and uncertain what to do next, all except J’onn who remained as calm as ever.

Batman’s recent confession was a shock to most of the League, who were unsure of what to do next. It was finally decided that they would invite Nightwing, or at least for a trial run. Wonder Woman was still apprehensive to invite a non-powered being onto the team, despite Batman’s apparent status as one.

The following evening, the League gathered together on a rooftop in Bludhaven. Wally had already contacted Nightwing, asking to meet up with him, but he hadn’t said anything about the League or the membership opportunity to his friend. I can’t wait to see the look on his face.

Only Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman were there. It was decided that the whole league didn’t need to be there. If Nightwing was interested, then they would bring him back to headquarters where the rest of the League was waiting. Wally wasn’t sure if Batman of all people should be part of the welcoming committee, but the dark knight had firmly stated that he was coming too. 

Maybe to make sure that Nightwing isn’t discriminated against for not having powers… what am I thinking? It’s to make his own evaluations on Nightwing of course. Batman would never work with just anyone.

It was a chilly night, and Wally couldn’t help but shiver as a gust of wind swirled around him. His friend was late, which was not looking good.

Wally couldn’t help but pace back and forth, a thousand thoughts flying through his mind. Maybe he’s busy catching a bad guy or he got lost or he forgot or he’s baking a cake or he saw the League members and got scared. Wait no! Why would seeing the League scare him? Dick’s a hero; he’s got no reason to be spooked. And what kind of name is Dick?

Even though Nightwing had told him months ago, he still didn’t believe his name was actually Dick, even though the name really fit. But Wally hadn’t been given any other name, not even a last name, so he was stuck calling his friend “Dick”. 

The name really suited him at times.

Wonder Woman and Superman quietly discussed with one another, most likely still contemplating Nightwing’s status as a non-powered individual and the possibility of Batman having the same notice. Batman was lurking in the shadows as usual; not conversing with anyone. Wally was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice the sudden appearance of the person before him.

“Boo.” Nightwing grinned.

“Awk!” Flash startled, “Why are you always doing that to me?”

“Doing what?” Nightwing asked, feigning innocence. 

That dick.

Wonder Woman and Superman, who had also jumped at the young man’s sudden appearance, quickly stode over to them. Nightwing’s masked gaze fell over all of them, including Batman who was still in the shadows. Flash, even being aware of his friend’s abilities, was surprised at that. No one ever noticed Batman like that. 

Nightwing, having straightened his back, appearing more formal, “So… to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? Is there something that I can be of assistance to? Though, I do find it hard to believe that the Justice League would need the help of little ol’ me.”

Superman cleared his throat, “Nightwing, it’s good to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He extended his hand.

Nightwing shook it with a smirk, “All good things I hope?”

Not seeming to like Nightwing’s attitude, Wonder Woman responded, “Enough, we have already wasted enough time.” She, with unnecessary help from Superman and Wally, went on to explain that they, the league, were interested in recruiting him. 

Nightwing seemed surprised. “You want me? All of you?” He turned to look at Batman as he asked the second question. 

Wally once again wondered how his friend kept being able to spot Batman in the shadows. I still had trouble doing it even with over a year of practice!

“Yes.” Batman stated.

Superman explained to Nightwing that he would be starting out on probationary status until after he had experience working with the league and it was decided if he had what it took to do what they did. It was eventually agreed that they would all go back to the Watchtower. Wonder Woman and Superman were a little hesitant to bring a practical stranger to their super secret headquarters, but surprisingly Batman backed Wally up when he said there was no security risk.

When they arrived, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern were waiting for them. Wally couldn’t help but grin as his friend gasped when he saw where he was.

He craned his neck back as he turned around to look at the mighty Watchtower before settling his amazed gaze on the large window revealing earth. “I always wondered what it would look like.”

“What does that mean?” Wonder Woman questioned.

“Earth,” Nightwing laughed, “Not your headquarters. I would never have guessed it was in outer space.”

“Good,” Batman stated. “That was the point.”

“What? Afraid I might have visited sooner?” Nightwing teased.

“Wait,” Wally interceded, looking back and forth between Batman and Nightwing. “Do you two already know each other?”

“Of course! We just had lunch together earlier today,” Nightwing smiled as he looked over to Batman, as if waiting for him to agree.

Batman did not.

Hawkgirl, Manhunter, and Green Lantern introduced themselves, and soon a friendly conversation started between the formal league members and the friendly vigilante. Nightwing soon had most of them chuckling with laughter.

“Enough!” Wonder Woman shouted, startling all but Batman and Nightwing. “Why are we even bothering with this manchild? He asks like a child and will be completely helpless against powered individuals!”

Before anyone could respond, alarms started going off, the computer announcing the alert.

“ Bomb threat, Level 10. Location: Washington D.C., the White House. Target: President Susan Brayden."

Chapter Text

“We only have five minutes before the bombs go off,” Batman stated.

Even though Wally was the fastest man alive, he was having trouble keeping track of what was happening. It seemed like one moment, he and everyone else were on the Watchtower, showing it off to Nightwing. And the next, they were extracting President Brayden out of the bomb-infested white house.

“There’s no way we can deactivate all of them by then!” Green Lantern responded.

“Move!” Batman growled at the Justice League as he ushered them into the elevator. “Get the president to safety.” Superman and Wonder Woman escorted the president. They were followed by the rest of the league.

Nightwing hesitated behind them, turning back to look at Batman, “What about you?”

“I’m going back in to diffuse the bombs.”

“That’s a terrible plan!”

“Just get everyone to safety.”

“I’m not leaving you h--”

“That’s an order Nightwing!” Batman snarled. Nightwing looked like he was about to protest further when Batman suddenly roundhouse kicked him backwards into the elevator as he punched a number sequence into the security box by the door. The doors of the elevator closed as Nightwing got up from the floor.

“No!”Nightwing shouted as he began to pound on the door. “Open the door Batman! There’s not enough time to diffuse all the bombs before they go off!”

The caped crusader ignored the young man’s protests as he turned around and began punching in another sequence into the control panel.

“Batman!” Nightwing shouted as he tried again to open the elevator door, but the elevator only began to rise. Nightwing began to mess with the controls from within the elevator. 

“ Access denied, ” a mechanical voice resounded.

“Damn it!”

“Nightwing!” Superman, who also looked confused, shouted, “We have to get everyone to safety!” Nightwing rose from the panel..

Wonder Woman rested a hand on the black and blue clothed hero, “Batman knows what he’s doing. Trust him.” Nightwing gave a curt nod in response.

Wally ran beside his friend as they escorted the president outside and onto the corridor. “Dude, You have to tell me how you know Batman,” he whined. Nightwing only glared at him, an expression that routinely mirrored the dark knight’s.

Just as Superman was about to open the door in front of them, Nightwing froze, “Wait! Stop!”

The group of heroes paused, with the president in the middle, and she asked, “Why are we stopping?”

“Yes, Why are we stopping?” Wonder Woman asked Nightwing.

“Look,” Nightwing pointed at the upper left corner of the doorframe. Inspecting closer, Wally saw a wire running from the ceiling down to the door and leading into the doorframe. “See that wire?”

Superman, looking like he was using his x-ray vision, gasped, “That wire is hooked up to explosives.”

“Exactly, “Nightwing agreed. “Opening the door appears to be the trigger.”

“Then let's turn around and go a different way,” Wally suggested.

“No,” Nightwing said with a hard voice. He gazed through the long hallway, looking both ways. “This entire hallway is full of traps.”

“I think he’s right,” Superman agreed. His brow was furrowed as he looked beyond what the rest of them could see.

“How?”

“We just came through here less than twenty minutes ago!”

“There’s no way anyone could set up that much in that little amount of time.”

Nightwing pursed his lips. “It’s possible it was all set up a while ago but just wasn’t activated until after we went through here.”

“Which means we are being watched,” Wonder Woman devised.

Nightwing quickly got to work deactivating the traps.

“There’s not enough time to diffuse all of them!” Superman shouted.

“I know.” Nightwing responded, hanging by his knees on the chandelier as he messed with a tangled ball of wires. “But I don’t need to deactivate them all, or any of them for that matter. All we need is a little opening elsewhere.” As he finished talking, there was a click as a panel in the wall opened up.

They all stared at Nightwing as he flipped down to the ground. 

“Has that always been there?” The president asked.

“Since Truman renovated the place in 1952.” Nightwing responded. “Now let’s get  moving before the bombs go off.

The Flash, Nightwing, and Superman escorted the president while the rest of the Justice League ran around searching for anyone left in the building, racing them out to safety. Just as they brought the last civilian outside, the ground started to shake.

Chapter Text

Oh no! Wally thought, horrified, He didn’t get them all.

The low rumble grew louder until BOOM! The walls of the White House crumpled like paper as flames and smoke emerged from the crumbling bricks, the roaring of destruction echoing around them.

“No,” Nightwing’s horrified cry was barely a whisper as he raced toward the annihilation. Flash sped after him. Wally held his friend close as he struggled to escape his grasp. There’s no way he escaped that… not without powers. There were flames and smoke billowing from the crumble white stones.

“I’m so sorry,” Wally whispered sympathetically to the grief-filled hero. Flash didn’t know how Nightwing knew Batman, but at that moment, he realized that whatever relationship the two had, it was important. You don’t react like that unless it's about someone you love… the way Nightwing always seemed to know where Batman was, getting lunch together, the way he was fine with Nightwing being friends with him . It all makes sense: they know and care about each other.

Wally knew with a glance that his friend was trying not to cry. The clench of his jaw, the quick breaths, and the struggle to swallow his own saliva. Nightwing’s struggles slowly relented as Wonder Woman came to join them. She placed a gentle hand on the young  man.

“You cared for him,” Wonder Woman said, not as a question but as a statement. Nightwing remained motionless, Wally having let go now, as he stared at the rubble before him. “I am glad to know that Batman had someone who cared for him. He always seemed so… alone.”

There was no response from Nightwing. Diana looked to Flash as if asking for help, But Wally didn’t know what to do. Everything about Nightwing in that moment was wrong to Wally. He was silent and still, instead of his normal chatty and jittery self.

After a moment that young man in blue and black whispered, “He wasn’t always like that.” He paused. “I mean he’s always been the serious, no-nonsense, emotionally constipated brick wall… but he.. he used to smile… and laugh. Not often… but enough… Not since Jason…”

Wally felt his heart tighten at that name. Before the destruction of the White House, once again consoling his friend as he grieved for a loved one, Wally couldn’t help but think of that night that now felt like yesterday. It was something he often forgot, due to Nightwing’s constant and unwavering upbeat attitude. Wally thought back to fifteen months ago, before the league had even been formed. 

Nightwing hadn’t been answering any of his texts or calls for over a week, so The Flash decided to pay Bludhaven a visit. He had found Nightwing stopping a convenience store robbery. 

But something was wrong. His usually smiling friend was angry, hitting the criminals as hard as possible. Instead of the usual arsenal of bad puns, the vigilante remained silent and stoic. After he quickly disarmed the thieves, Nightwing disappeared from sight, but Wally knew how his friend worked by now and raced up the side of the building to the rooftop.

The rooftop was empty, softly illuminated by the street lights below. Sounds of car engines quietly roaring, footsteps echoing through the alleyway below, and the distant wailing of a police siren filled the speedster’s ears.

“What are you doing here?” Nightwing’s hard voice came from behind him. Wally turned to face his friend, knowing that something was wrong.

“Nightwing, what’s wrong?” Flash had asked. Nightwing’s lip quivered, but he remained silent. Flash noticed that Nightwing was shaking. Wally had a moment of fear that he had made him angry, but as he stepped closer to his friend, Wally realized that Nightwing was crying.

Wally instantly enveloped his friend in a hug. After a moment’s hesitation, Nightwing returned the hug. Wally, unsure what to do next, stayed silent. He sensed that talking wasn’t something that his friend needed right then. So he continued to hold Nightwing tightly as Nightwing cried silently.

“My little brother is dead,” Nightwing hoarsely whispered.

Wally hadn’t even known that Nightwing had a brother. Bludhaven’s hero had never mentioned having a family before. “I’m so sorry, man… Do.. do you want to talk about-- “

“Jason,” Nightwing interrupted as he wiped the tears away from behind his mask, “His name was Jason.”

“I am truly sorry for your loss,” Wonder Woman gently spoke.

“He died a hero,” Superman commended. “If he hadn’t gone back in and disarmed as many bombs as he did, a lot of people would have died.”

“People did die,” Nightwing growled, his tone sounding so akin to the caped crusader’s voice.

“I--” 

Whatever Superman was going to say was cut short by Hawkgirl’s worried voice, “Where’s Green Lantern?” 

With everyone focused on Nightwing’s outburst, no one had noticed that the black and green cloved hero was also missing. As the remaining League members rose, noise and movement came from the rubble of the building.

Worrying that the settling bricks could have been caused by unstable ground below, Superman ordered everyone to get back. The moving debris caused a cloud of dust to rise, obscuring the view until a pale green light emerged.

Two figures emerged from the suspended soot. One was enveloped in a halo of green light while the other was clothed in shadows.

“DAD!” Nightwing cried as he rushed toward Batman.

“Dad?” The Flash inquired in disbelief as Nightwing leaped and enveloped the dark knight in a hug, wrapping his arms around the torso of the caped crusader, which caused the man to stumble backwards.

The Flash and Wonder Woman looked incredulously at each other before turning back to the unbelievable scene before them. The League conversed amongst themselves.

“Did you know?”

“No!”

“You said you were best friends!”

“That doesn’t mean he tells me stuff! Did you know?”

“That Bats got a kid? Nope.”

“And one so happy?”

“I’m seeing it, but I’m still not believing it.”

They all turned to The Martian Manhunter, who was the only one who had remained calm.

“Did you know J’onn?”

“No, but I am not surprised.”

“Why?”

“Batman has always been protective of Gotham and the innocent, much like a father is protective of his children.”

The other members looked at each other, then returned their gazes back to Batman and Nightwing.

From within Nightwing’s tight embrace, Batman’s low, gruff growl muttered, “Nightwing.” 

“Screw the rule and just shut up for a minute.”

“Nightwing...” After a moment’s hesitation, Batman raised his arms up, embracing his son back, whispering, “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

In the past few years since Wally West had become The Flash, he had seen a lot of crazy things and met a lot of crazy people. Flash knew his friend was crazy enough to try to hug the Batman, but he never expected Batman to return the hug.

Chapter Text

“What made you go back in? You don’t know how to diffuse a bomb.” Hawkgirl asked. It looked like she really wanted to hit Green Lantern in the face with her mace. She didn’t, most likely realizing that he probably wouldn’t be able to answer her question if his jaw was shattered.

“I don’t, but less than twenty-four hours ago I found out that Batman is just some crazy bat-fanatic in a costume and doesn’t actually have any powers,” John replied in his “no-nonsense voice.”

“Oh... Good point.”

Superman couldn’t help but smile at the two. He wondered how long it would be before they figured out that they liked the other. While it was crystal clear to him, the two seemed oblivious that the other loved them.

While Clark watched the two walk off still conversing with one another, he couldn’t help but ponder on their subject of discussion. He looked to where Batman, the Flash, and Nightwing were near the Watchtower’s computers.

Superman still didn’t fully believe that Batman was merely human; it seemed impossible after everything he had seen Batman do. He was also still in shock that Batman had a son and one with such a difference in personality. Looking back, Clark could see the similarities in skills but nothing else.

‘He used to smile more… but not since Jason.’

Clark didn’t know what Batman’s son had meant by that, but he was determined to find out. Clark had a suspicion.

Superman had first met Batman a little less than 15 months ago, before the league had even formed. Clark still remembers his first thought when he spotted the dark knight.

A beast .

It moved so quickly, a shadowy figure emerging from the darkness, striking out and breaking bones and tearing flesh. Clark could hear it growl as he flew down to the Metropolis dock.

Clark shook his head at the memory. He could still remember the feeling of his hair on the back of his neck rising when he had confronted what he thought was some meta or supernatural creature.

“Who are you?” Superman demanded when the shadow stilled over the fallen men and women. They were still alive, but nowhere near alright.

Superman was on guard, ready for a fight, but unwilling to go in fists flying before trying to figure out what was happening

A growl came in response, “Batman.”

Clark’s eyes widened with surprise. He had heard rumors of the vigilante said to roam Gotham, but he never truly believed them until that moment, thinking that the rumors didn’t do the caped crusader’s reputation any justice. He was so much more terrifying in the flesh. A cloak that mixed with the shadows, irisless white eyes, and calm breaths despite the strenuous actions the creature had just been executing.

“What did you do to them?” Superman demanded as he knelt next to one of the men. He could hear them breathing, but barely. Using his x-ray vision, he saw countless broken bones. Each hit had been made to cause pain… a lot of it. Broken ribs, shattered knee caps, busted jaws.

“They deserve worse.”

“How can—“

“They’re traffickers,” Batman growled as he walked towards a metal shipping container.

“How d—“

“Listen.”

The rage emitting off the man that night had been fierce. Clark understood being angry at the wrongs of the world. But another memory of a lecture on grief from his college psychology course he had taken came to mind, and he wondered if there was more to the story.

He could still see that rage in the man, but Superman hadn’t since seen it in that intensity. Batman fought with more clean cut precision now than the messy rage he had seen that night, and they had seen far worse since that night.

Clark had a lead. He recalled another moment from that night.

Superman ripped the door off the metal shipping container as soon as he heard the heartbeats from within. A single lamp from the dock illuminated the dozens of young, tear-streaked faces staring at him.

Superman immediately began to unbind their limbs and ungag the kidnapped girls.

Clark was so lost in his own mind wondering how he could miss such a large scale sex trafficking ring within his own home city that he almost missed what Batman was doing.

The dark knight who had moments before been practically ripping the trafficker to shreds was now gently wiping away the tears of a little girl who couldn’t have been older than ten.

The girl sobbed into his arms, and Batman held her, softly whispering, “You’re safe now.”

That moment was what made Clark so determined to have Batman join the Justice League when it had formed a few short months later.

Clark had a theory, but he didn’t want to make any assumptions. Batman deserved better than that. The man was a hero.

Chapter Text

While Clark was pondering about what kind of person Batman really was, Batman, Nightwing, Flash, and Wonder Woman were monitoring the news from the events from the White House bombing.

“Authorities have apprehended the bomber, Alexander Trent, after receiving a tip about who was responsible for today’s events. They did not reveal what the tip was or where it came from, but sources rumor that it came from the super kind.”

“Was that you?” Wonder Woman asked Batman.

“Trent is a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacy group.”

“No.”

“It is believed that President Brayden was targeted because, as a female of color, her very existence goes against the Brotherhood’s beliefs.”

“You helped,” Nightwing said. Turning to Wonder Woman, “We’ve been monitoring the Brotherhood’s activity for a while now.”

“Authorities are currently looking into the Aryan Brotherhood more closely due to all the hate speech President Brayden has received from them ever since being elected into office.”

“Yes, but you were the one to realize that the bombs had been set by them today.” Batman responded.

“Trent claims to have masterminded this by himself. At this time however, authorities say it is unclear whether Trent acted alone or if he was simply a pawn of the Aryan Brotherhood.”

Flash and Wonder Woman looked at one another, both thinking that it was sweet that Batman was praising his son.

“On a more positive note, this new footage has been released of this morning’s attack on the White House.”

A blurry video of Nightwing hugging Batman is shown.

“Little is known about Gotham city’s vigilante, Batman, and even less is known about the new man in black and blue. Who is this new hero? How does he know Batman? Are the two vigilantes related, or perhaps together? We asked viewers what their thoughts are, and the most popular theory is that the two are married. We want to know what your thoughts are. This is Cat Grant on News 52, Good night America!”

Nightwing turned the monitor off, “Hey B, why does everyone always ship us together?”

Batman paused from his work at the watchtower computer. He turned to look at his son and said, “Probably because you’re so clingy.”

Flash and Wonder Woman couldn’t help but snicker as Nightwing responded, “Wow… Thanks… I love you too.”

Chapter Text

“You still haven’t answered our request.”

Nightwing turned around as Wonder Woman spoke to him, “I thought you didn’t approve of my ‘child-like personality’ and I quote ‘helplessness against powered individuals’?”

“I was wrong,” Wonder Woman confessed.

Nightwing smiled, “What made you change your mind?”

Diana kept her gaze on him as she said, “Without you, the president would be dead, and many more. We would have gone straight through that door and triggered the bomb, which most likely would have set off all the other bombs. Even when you thought your father was going to die, you didn’t lose focus.”

“I just did what was necessary.”

“So, what is your decision then?”

Nightwing hesitated before saying, “There is nothing that I could bring to the League that you don’t already have. And I’m pretty sure you could have easily handled yesterday’s situation without me. Besides, I’m needed in my neighborhood more than the League needs me.”

Diana gazed at the young warrior, “While you do not lie, that is not the whole truth, is it?”

Nightwing’s lips pursed together before relaxing with a sigh, “Batman did say you were very insightful.” He paused a moment before looking directly into her eyes, “I’m sure you’ve heard Batman talk about how the mission always comes first?”

Wonder Woman nodded, “I have.”

“Well his actions don’t always match up to his words, as evident from what happened at the White House. I may not have lost focus, but he did. He only locked us out of there because I was with you. I know how to diffuse bombs, and Batman knows that, because he’s the one who taught me how. Me being there caused Batman not to do the most logical thing, which would have been to let me help in disarming the bombs. We would have been able to disarm all the bombs everywhere, and then you guys would never have almost activated them. But as much as Batman talks about putting the mission first, which trust me, I know better than anyone how often it feels like he does, he’s actually pretty hypocritical. If I were to join the Justice League I would be nothing but a liability and a distraction.”

Diana stood and pondered the young man before her, “Those are wise words for someone so young.”

Nightwing grinned, “Batman didn’t raise no dummy.” 

Wonder Woman chuckled. “I must also apologize for how I treated you when we first met.”

“Nah, I get it. You were just concerned that I would get hurt.”

“No, it’s not. Growing up, my mother always spoke about how powerless men were so when they happen to get some power, they would abuse it. Even though I have lived in man’s world for over a year now, sometimes I forget my mother wasn’t right about everything. Real power does not come from strength of body, but the strength of one’s heart, which cannot be abused. I should have treated you more fairly and without discrimination.”

Nightwing smiled, “Apology accepted even though I was never upset with you; however, I am kind of surprised Batman’s not mad at you.”

Wonder Woman paused. I guess I did insult his son. “Well he does have practice disagreeing with me.”

Nightwing laughed and extended his hand, “It was an honor to finally meet you.”

Diana clasped his hand, “The honor was all mine to meet the son of a trusted comrade.” As Nightwing turned and began walking away, she couldn’t help but ask another question, “Who’s Jason?”

Nightwing froze. He glanced behind him and wearily asked, “What did you just say?”

“Yesterday you said that Batman used to smile more, but not since Jason.”

Nightwing didn’t respond; he only continued to stare at Wonder Woman.

Seeing his reaction, Wonder Woman quickly apologized, “I am sorry. I did not mean to upset you.”

“No,” Nightwing responded. “Um… Jason was my brother...He died a little over a year ago.”

“I am sorry,” Diana sympathized. I cannot imagine the pain he and Batman must have gone through… maybe his death is the reason for Batman's cold demeanor? He did say Batman used to smile more before Jason. And perhaps the reason why Batman forced his son away from the bombs?

Nightwing faintly smiled, “You know what? I think Jason would have had the biggest crush on you.” He chuckled softly before once again turning to walk away.

Batman did well raising him, Diana thought as she too walked away.

Chapter Text

Wally was panicking as a realization hit him harder than Wonder Woman’s punches. “Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh n--”

“Wally!” Nightwing interjected. They were in Central City; Nightwing was helping Flash with a case.

“Batman’s your dad!”

“Wally, we’ve discussed this already. I’m adopted.”

“Batman’s your dad ! That means every time I complained about him to you, I was complaining about your dad !”

Nightwing stared at Flash like Wally had said the dumbest thing in the world. Flash stared back, hoping his friend would understand why he was panicking without having to use any words. At the moment, words were too hard to think of.

“You do realize that when you were complaining about your pain-in-the-ass coworker and I was complaining about my pain-in-the-ass dad, we were complaining about the same idiot, right?” Nightwing asked, still looking at him as if Wally was dumb.

Wally stared at Dick, contemplating what he had just told him. Nightwing continued to stare at him, waiting for Wally’s response, looking completely unimpressed with Wally’s lack of thinking.

“Oh.”

There was a moment of silence.

“So, were you ever going to tell me Batman was your dad?”

“If you recall, I told you multiple times.”

“But you always said it with your joking voice.”

“I know.” Ni ghtwing smiled.

“So you purposely made me think that you weren’t telling the truth?”

“The best liars always tell the truth.”

“Not cool dude.”

Nightwing sighed, “Look, there’s a lot of people who would use mine and Batman’s relationship against us. The less people who know, the better. Me telling you it as a joke was my way of being honest with you, but still being able to protect my family.”

Wally took a moment to ponder his words. “I get it man. Family comes first.” 

And Wally did. He could recall several times when criminals would go after him to get at his uncle Barry, the first Flash. Besides, at that moment, Dick had that look that meant he was thinking about Jason. Not for the first time, Wally wondered what had happened to his best friend’s little brother.

“Thanks for understanding, Wally.”

“Any time.” Wally looked at Dick with a pondering expression on his freckled face, “That thing about liars telling the truth, that sounds like a quote or something. Where did you hear it from?”

“Batman.”

Wally paused, “He have a lot of life lessons like that when you were growing up?”

“Yep, but I have a very strong feeling that he took that quote from someone else, and I have a very good guess as to who.”

“Who?” Wally asked, a little confused.

“Same person who taught us how to pick a pocket.”

“Okay, first, that is a crime, and second, who? I asked again.”

Dick grinned again, “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Wally groaned, “Urgh, why do I even bother with you!”

“Cause I’m your friend and you love me,” Dick teased.

Wally put on a disgusted face but didn’t deny it as he and Dick continued looking at the case notes.

After a few minutes of reviewing the papers, another thought crossed Wally’s mind. “So when you told me that you once fought a villain with an odd obsession with kites, was that another honest joke or an actual joke.”

“Kiteman’s real.”

“What about Condiment King?”

“Real too.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I’m serious.”

“Nope. No way some one would ever believe ketchup would be a formidable weapon of choice”

“Don’t believe me? Then ask Batman, he was there.”

Wally stuttered, “No… No way am I asking Batman if Condiment King is real.”

“Scaredy cat.”

“No, I’m just not as gullible as you seem to think I am.”

“Whatever you say man,” Dick grinned as the two went back to looking at the case once again.

“What about Polka-Dot man?”

Dick groaned, “Did you ask me over to help you with this case or just to ask me about Gotham’s weirdest Arkham patients?”

“They’re all from Gotham?”

“Yeah.”

“That makes more sense now.”

Dick snorted, “You have no idea. Wait until I tell you about the fifth dimensional imp who has the weirdest obsession with Batman and calls himself Bat-mite. He once tried to give Batman superpowers, but missed and gave them to Joker, fell in love with the Joker's girlfriend Harley Quinn, and teamed up with her to defeat the Joker using a giant mallet.”

There was a moment of silence as Wally stared at Dick.

“Okay, now I definitely know you’re joking.”

Chapter Text

Wally’s stomach rumbled. Nightwing snorted as his best friend glared at him. “Shut up, I have a very high metabolism.”

The two were walking through the watchtower. It was the Flash’s turn for monitor duty, and Nightwing tagged along, saying he’d hitch a ride with Batman when he left. Wally was still weirded out by the fact that his sunshine-and-rainbows friend was the son of darkness-and-grumpiness Batman, despite it having been a few months since he found out.

“You know,” Nightwing said, “I could do with a snack too.”

 The two paused as they reached the monitor room, and Wally was wishing he had stopped at home to grab food first. Normally, Wally would just grab food from the Watchtower cafeteria, but it was currently being rebuilt after the recent attack on the Watchtower had destroyed it. Everyone was saying they were lucky that it had only been the cafeteria that had been damaged and not any of the informational, transportation, weapons, or life support systems. 

Wally did not agree with them.

Batman was currently working at the monitors, installing a new computer system, and Nightwing greeted him, “Hey B, do you have any… “

Before Nightwing had even finished, Batman had reached into a compartment in his belt and pulled out two granola bars.

What? The Flash thought dumbfounded.

“Thanks B!” Nightwing grinned as he handed one of the bars to Wally. Batman grunted in response. While Nightwing happily started munching on his, Wally was too shocked to eat his. Only Nightwing’s elbow being gabbed into his side did Wally regain his bearings.

Wally slowly unwrapped the snack bar and took a bite. Batman carries snacks in his belt?

Before Wally had more time to think about it, Nightwing asked, “So is Oracle online yet?”

“Not quite yet,” Batman responded. He fiddled around with the controls for a moment. 

The monitors suddenly light up in a green fluorescent light, a face appearing, looking similar to what Wally thought the wizard of Oz would look like if he was real.

“ Oracle online ,” a mechanical female voice said.

“Systems check.” Batman ordered.

“ All systems accessed and running .” The mechanical voice responded. “ All systems excluding the ones related to the cafeteria are fully functional .”

“Good.” Batman replied.

Nightwing suddenly spoke up, “Do you have live access to the security feed?”

“ Yes. ”

“Tell me, do I look good?”

Wally internally groaned as Batman started, “Don’t ans—“

“As good as the Riddler dressed in his birthday suit.”

Nightwing’s flirty demeanor was suddenly replaced with an expression of insult. 

Wally laughed at him, rolling his eyes at his friend for trying to flirt with an artificial intelligence system, but was also shocked at the humor Batman programmed into it.

“Can we disable Oracle?” Nightwing wined to his father.

“No.”

Wally snickered. Nightwing glared at him in betrayal.

“I am fully integrated into the watch tower systems now. You couldn’t get me out even if you tried, boy wonder.”

“Why are you so mean to me?” Nightwing continued to wine. Flash wasn’t sure if the black and blue hero was talking to Batman or the Oracle system. He also didn’t know what was going on, but it sounded like Batman’s artificial intelligence system wanted to go evil and take over the world.

Wally voiced his fear, only to be laughed at by Nightwing, “You’ve been watching too many sci-fi movies, man.” 

Wally gulped and looked for Batman. The dark knight grunted, “Oracle is very much capable of taking over the world.”

“So, ready to go now, B?” Nightwing asked cheerfully, not even pausing to let Wally process the scary thought.

 Batman once again only grunted in response. After a moment he rose and began to walk away.

 “See ya later Flash!” Nightwing shouted as he followed the dark knight.

Flash starred as the two walked side-by-side. Nightwing was his usual chatty self, talking nonstop while Batman grunted and nodded every once in a while in response.

Wallet gulped as he was left alone with the glowing green face of the evil Wizard of Oz. 

Batman acts much differently when Nightwing is around… I like it, despite how much scarier he is… and I really hope I don’t have to worry about robots taking over the world, I have more than enough to worry about already.

“Boo.” The eerie feminine computer voice suddenly spoke.

“ACK!” Flash sped out of the room and into the zeta tube as fast as possible, but it was still too slow for his tastes.

Chapter Text

So this is what sickness feels like. Clark didn’t like the feeling. His stomach was trying to crawl up his throat, his ears were ringing, his limbs trembled. He felt like he was burning, yet shivered as if cold. 

None of it made sense. 

Superman could barely focus on the man standing before him. Lex Luther stood proudly above him with a gun pointed to his head. The man had kryptonite bullets loaded into it. 

Clark didn’t know what to do.

He and the Flash had been on a stake out in Metropolis together when Luther attacked them. Lex had technology that was keeping Flash contained and inhibiting his speed. For Superman, Lex had kryptonite, and a lot of it.

“You came to earth like a disease, alien scum,” Lex snarled. “But earth need not fear, for I have defeated you once and for all.”

“You… you won’t g… get away wi… with it Luthor,” Clark replied weakly. He had never been exposed to this much kryptonite at one time before.

“It’s too late Superman ,” Lex snarled as if it was an insult, “No one knows you’re here, and even if your friends from your so called Justice League knew, they can’t stop me.”

Lex raised the gun. Clark could barely focus on it, but even through the haze he could see Luther’s finger start to pull the trigger.

Lois… Jon… I- I can’t leave them… not like this, Clark thought in despair. Clark couldn’t help but close his eyes as the piercing bang of the gun echoed through his skull.

But before it hit him, something else did.

Superman looked up from where he had been knocked over. Lying beside him was a child, clothed in black and red, adorning a black domino mask and knee length cape.

Rao… I think he pushed me out of the bullet’s p a th. Despite not being hit by the kryptonite bullet, Clark could still feel the radiation burn from it.

The child stood up and faced a slightly confused looking Luthor who snarled, “Stand aside kid.”

“No.”

“I don’t have time fo--”

“545158843543.”

“What?”

The boy repeated himself adding, “It’s the bank number for the account you use for your no-so-legal business transactions, such as the illegal smuggling you used to get the materials to make that suit you’re wearing.”

“How do you know that?”

The boy smirked.

Who does this kid think he is? Batman?

Lex pointed his gun at the child, “You can’t prove anything, especially if you’re dead.”

Through the haze Clark glimpsed a flash of movement. The gun in Lex’s hand was suddenly gone, clattering on the ground a few feet away. 

BANG! A small puff of smoke surrounded the technology containing Flash. In an instant, Flash punched Lex unconscious and used the broken devices to tie Luthor up. Next he rushed to Superman, who was still feeling the presence of nearby kryptonite.

“Are you okay?”

“No,” Superman replied weakly, “there’s still kryptonite close by.”

The boy backed away. The pain seemed to lessen a little for some reason. The boy then spoke, “Flash, you should take Luthor to the police station, I’ll collect the kryptonite.”

“But--”

“Do you have lead to contain the kryptonite?” The child asked.

Flash pursed his lips, knowing the boy was right. The child pulled a box from underneath the cape that was pulled around him, and began picking up the pieces of kryptonite. Flash turned to Superman, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Clark nodded weakly as Flash sped off with Luthor. Looking back at the black and red clothed child who saved him, Clark asked, “Who are you?”

The child froze. After a moment he replied, “Just someone who’s trying to help.”

Well that wasn’t helpful. This kid is almost as elusive as Batman.

“Are you by yourself kid? As much as I appreciate your help, you should leave this kind of stuff to the professionals. It’s dangerous, especially by yourself.”

The boy didn’t answer his question and instead replied. “You should head back to the watch tower and get tested for any remaining radiation from the kryptonite.”

Superman was unnerved. How does he know that? Superman thought as he grimaced at the thought of having to tell Batman that a child knew about the League’s super secret headquarters.

Just as Superman was about to question the kid, Flash returned followed by a rush of air that made both Clark and the child stumble.

“Lex is currently sitting in holding,” Flash announced. “Let's hope he stays there this ti—“

Brrring! Brrring! Brrring! Flash brought his hand up to the comm in his ear, “This is Flash. What’s up Nightwing?”

Even though Clark could still feel the effects of the kryptonite, he was able to use his super hearing just enough to be able to hear the other half of Flash’s conversation.

“Flash! Have you seen a kid in a black and red costume with a mask and black hair?” Nightwing demanded, sounding a little frantic.

“Uuummmm, yeah… I’m looking right at him.”

“ Oh thank god!” Where are you?”

“On a rooftop, northeast corner of 22nd and 14th Street in Metropolis.”

“Stay there with the kid. We’ll be there in two point five minutes.”

“Wait, we?” Flash asked. Nightwing didn’t answer.

Flash turned to Superman who was still feeling terrible. “You hear all that?”

Clark nodded, “Hopefully it’s Batman that's with him.”

“Why?”

He hesitated, answering, “The kid knows about the Watchtower.”

“Crap,” Flash worried, “Bats will probably blame us.”

The two heroes waited in silence with the child who was now sitting on the ledge silently with the box of kryptonite on his lap.

From Clark’s dazed perspective, it felt like only seconds later when the hum of an engine could be heard. A sleek black jet soon landed beside them. Before the aircraft had even landed, Nightwing was hopping out and sprinting towards them. Batman followed closely behind him.

“Robin!” Nightwing exclaimed.

Robin? Is that the kid’s name?

Nightwing rushed forward with Batman beside him. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? We were so worried!” Nightwing’s words quickly spilled out as he pulled the child into a hug.

The child, Robin, winced at the hug, causing Nightwing to quickly let go of him. Batman crouched down to the child’s height and slowly reached for him. But Robin took a small step back, “I’m fine.”

“That wince says otherwise,” Batman stated.

“It’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine, but I don’t think Superman is.”

While Nightwing turned and looked at him and Flash, Batman’s gaze didn’t leave the child.

“Don’t lie to me Robin.”

When Batman once again reached for the child, he didn’t pull away. Batman slowly pushed his black and red cape away from the boy’s shoulder, revealing a shard of green kryptonite sticking out of the boy’s bicep, covered in gleaming red.

He… he took the bullet for me, Clark thought with dread as Nightwing gasped and quickly put pressure on the wound

Batman quickly radioed Martian Manhunter who was on monitor duty, “Manhunter, zeta beam the five of us up to the watchtower immediately and prep the med bay ASAP.” 

There was a blaze of light before darkness as they were zeta beamed up to the Watchtower.

Chapter Text

They sat in silence, the only noise coming from Batman as he snapped the lead box shut around the kryptonite bullet and placed the medical instruments back on the metal tray. Robin sat upon the med bay bed with Nightwing beside him and Batman in front of him. His cape had been removed and his sleeve rolled up to expose his wound. The next noise came from Batman grabbing the instruments needed to stitch Robin’s wound shut.

Clark was still a little woozy from the kryptonite radiation, but he was able to make at least one coherent thought: Batman has another son.

Since coming to the Watchtower, Robin hadn’t once made eye contact with anyone, which concerned Clark as he sat on his own med bed. Nightwing’s silence also concerned him. He wasn’t used to seeing the young man without his usual smile and bad puns. Clark couldn’t notice a difference in Batman, but that wasn’t saying much.

As Batman taped a bandage over the wound, Robin finally looked up at the dark knight, “I can expla-”

“No.” Batman growled in a tone Superman had never heard before.

Nightwing spoke up, “B, ma-”

“No.” Batman repeated. “You did exactly what I told you not to do.” He looked directly at Robin who looked away quickly, choosing to stare at his own shoes instead. “I said surveillance and recon only. No engaging under any circumstances.”

“But Superman-” Robin began.

“You may have saved his life, but there were safer ways of doing it that didn’t involve jumping in front of a bullet. You’re lucky that the bullet didn’t hit an artery otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting here and having this conversation.”

“But-“ Robin tried again.

“No buts,” Batman growled. “You are grounded.” He finished putting the arm sling around the boy before getting up and grabbing the medical equipment to dispose of.

“Batman,” Clark awkwardly intervened, “Robin saved my life, there’s no reason to be mad at him.”

Batman bristled and glared at him. “He wouldn’t even be hurt if it wasn’t for you.”

“Batman!” Nightwing shouted with disbelief. “It’s not anyone’s fault! Robin did what he believed to be the best choice at the moment. A choice that resulted in Superman living and Luthor being put in jail.”

“He took a risk that could have cost him his life!” Batman’s voice had the slightest bit of emotion to it. It sounded like anger, but with those words, Clark wasn’t so sure.

“He’s not Jason!” Nightwing shouted.

The room fell silent again.

Jason… Batman’s dead son. It’s not anger… its fear. Clark suddenly understood Batman’s apparent rage. He’s scared of it happening again, of losing another son.

Robin had curled up into himself, his shoulders hunched and head lowered. Looking at him, Batman’s stance softened. He sat down beside him. “I’m sorry for yelling. I am proud of what you were able to do. You.. you just… you had me worrying for the worst. I heard the news of Lex’s attack and then I received a phone call from your teacher that you had disappeared from the rest of the class, you weren’t responding. I- I didn’t know what to think.”

At Batman’s words, Robin lifted his head and looked at him. Batman gave him a small smile, which made Robin beam. Nightwing also smiled at Batman with approval.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile before, Clark thought with his own smile. Then another thought, Call from his teacher… class? Robin must have been part of those tours Lex Corps gives out to high school academic students in hopes of recruiting them. That thought only gave Clark more questions, especially since the boy did not look old enough to be in one of those groups.

“I did manage to get some incriminating evidence on Luthor,” Robin said a little shyly. Nightwing and Batman huddled around Robin as he showed them files from his gauntlet computer. Nightwing followed Robin’s instructions of where the files were at since he couldn’t use his one arm at the moment.

“This is more than a little, Baby bird,” Nightwing smiled as he ruffled the younger hero’s hair. A hint of pink appeared on Robin’s cheeks.

Batman scrolled through the information. “This is also more than just incriminating. This will keep Luthor from getting out of jail even with all of his lawyers and money. Good work, Robin. Now we just need to send it to the authorities.”

Robin blushed even more. “I already did.”

Batman grunted and gave a nod of his head.

There was a knock at the door as Wonder Woman appeared with the Flash and Martian Manhunter behind her. “I heard we have a hero in our midst.” If it was possible, Robin blushed even harder as he smiled. “Hello, I am Diana of Themyscira.”

“I’m Robin.” He spoke softly and with a little awe in his voice as he viewed the heroes around him.

“My little brother!” Nightwing gleamed with pride.

Flash looked a little taken back at first, most likely thinking about Nightwing’s other little brother he once had, but quickly smiled, “I’m glad you're on our side. With the way you handled Lex, I’d hate to go up against you.”

“I am J’onn J’onzz. Your work today was very impressive today little one.”

Robin continued to smile and blush as he shyly spoke, “Thanks.”

“You saved my life today. I can’t thank you enough,” Clark imputed.

“Oh,” Robin stuttered, “You’re welcome.”

Batman spoke next, “We should be going. Robin needs to get some rest.”

Flash and Wonder Woman spoke their goodbyes, asking Robin to promise to visit again. Clark smiled at how flustered the kid got with the praise as Batman stood beside him. It was a stark contrast to the bravado he showed less than an hour ago when facing Lex. “He’s a good kid, Batman.”

“I know.” Batman paused for a moment before continuing. “A word of advice, Clark.”

Clark stilled as Batman used his name. He usually only used it when talking about more serious matters.

“Don’t allow Jon to become part of this life.” Batman quickly walked away to join his sons at the Zeta tubes and soon disappeared in a flash of bright light.

Clark stared at the spot where they had stood, pondering what Batman could have meant by his words. Batman probably worries about Nightwing and Robin all the time… he must not want me to have to go through the same thing with Jon. With Jon being as young as he was, Clark couldn’t even imagine him doing what he did, he couldn’t even imagine him going to school yet.

But Batman’s words had another meaning to them. He might  finally consider me to be a friend.

Chapter Text

“I told you should have worn thermal gear,” Batman stated.

“Shut up,” Nightwing hissed through his chattering teeth.

The Justice League was currently investigating extraterrestrial readings in the arctic, and Nightwing, who had been with Flash when the alert happened, had decided to tag along. It was cold out, and the falling snow and oncoming darkness didn’t help. Nightwing was visibly shaking as he rubbed his arms and hopped around trying to stay warm.

Batman sighed, “Come here.” He raised his arm, opening his cape. Nightwing immediately rushed forward and was soon enveloped by the shadows surrounding Batman.

“Ow!” a voice shouted from within the Dark Knight’s cape, “That’s my foot, Dick!”

“Then scoot over baby bird.”

“We were here first!”

The Justice league members stared in bewilderment at the scene before them. Wonder Woman asked, “Is that Robin?”

Batman replied, “Yes.”

 “Why did you bring him?” Superman asked

“They were with me when the call came in.” The voices continued to bicker.

The members of the Justice league just nodded, still unused to seeing this aspect of Batman: a father.

Wait… Did he say…? Flash thought as he realized there was a third voice coming from within the caped crusader’s cape. Using the speed force, Wally rushed forward, flinging the heavy cape upward.

“Hey!” Three voices protested as the chilly arctic air hit them.

Wally and the rest of the league stood frozen at the sight before them. Nightwing and Robin were huddled around Batman with a third person.

The unknown vigilante was clothed in dark purples, a full black facial mask with white eye lenses covered the face, but strands of long blonde hair could be seen from underneath the hood. The person appeared to be female, standing about an inch or two taller than Robin.

“Who is this?” Hawkgirl exclaimed.

Batman started, “This is--”

“I’m Spoiler!” The purple clothed hero cheerfully interrupted, her voice thick with a Gotham accent.

“You have a daughter?” Wonder Woman wondered.

“She’s not--”

“Oh God no!” Spoiler exclaimed, once again interrupting Batman, “He is not my dad.”

The Justice League members continued to stare, unsure what was happening.

“And as cool as it is ta’ meet y'all,” Spoiler spoke, “why couldn’t we have stayed in the batjet where it’s all nice and warm?”

“Because the last time I left you two alone, you blew up an entire building,” Batman growled.

“They did WHAT?” multiple of the leaguers cried.

“Hey!” The two young heros protested.

“It wasn’t me, it was her!” Robin pointed at Spoiler, who swatted his hand.

“What!” Spoiler exclaimed, “How was I suppose to know the bad guys had the place rigged to explode!”

The two vigilantes continued to bicker. Batman only sighed and returned to scanning the area for extraterrestrial readings. The League stared at the scene before them. They had never seen Robin act like this before. Who was this girl?

“Aw young love,” Nightwing sighed, looking at the two young heroes.

Spoiler and Robin abruptly stopped their argument. Spoiler’s irisless white lenses narrowed as she glared at Nightwing. Robin just looked confused as he looked between Nightwing and Spoiler.

“Oh shit,” Nightwing whispered as he started to back away.

He was too late though. The young purple vigilante tackled Nightwing to the ground. In no time Nightwing had his face buried in the snow while Spoiler returned beneath Batman’s cape, dragging a no longer confused Robin behind her. He was now looking at her as if a lightbulb had gone off over his head.

“Batman,” Nightwing wined looking up at his father.

Batman grunted, “You knew full well what was going to happen so don’t come crying to me.”

Nightwing groaned, head falling back into the snow.

Batman, finally taking pity on his son, threw a pair of keys to Nightwing, who caught it with the quick lifting of his hand. “Go warm up in the batjet.”

Nightwing was up in an instant. “So long everyone!”

Spoiler poked her head out from beneath Batman’s cape. When she saw Nightwing running away, she piped up, “Come on Robin! I snuck some waffles on board, and we got to make sure fatty up there doesn’t eat all of them!” She took off running while dragging the boy wonder behind her.

“The Batjet better still be in one piece when I come back!” Batman shouted after them.

“No promises!” Spoiler squealed back.

Batman pressed a control on his wrist computer, “Oracle, please disable flight and offensive systems on the batjet.”

“ Would you like me to disable all systems but heating?” The computerized female voice of Oracle responded.

“Good idea.” Batman replied.

“ All systems except for heating are now offline.”

“ Thank you Oracle.”

Their comms cracked to life, the exasperated voice of Nightwing came through, “ Seriously Dad? ”

“ Do you trust us that little?” Spoiler asked.

Batman didn’t hesitate to answer, “Yes. And if you have any more complaints, I can always ask Oracle to disable the heat too.”

The comms remained silent.

The Justice League had many encounters with the members of the Bat-family in the past year since they first met Nightwing, but every altercation still left them unnerved at how fatherly the dark knight of Gotham could be.

Chapter Text

The Justice League was once again in Gotham, tracking a meta human trafficker. The criminals had somehow gotten their hands on Apokoliptian technology, so Batman reported it to the League.

Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Flash quickly responded and were soon in Gotham to where Batman was surveilling the criminals. With no surprise, Batman already had a plan to apprehend the criminals and compensate their weapons.

Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan. Hawkgirl may have gone a little too eagerly into the battle, which caused the criminals to panic and throw an Apokoliptian grenade. 

Luckily there were very few buildings and people right there. Unluckily, Flash had just been hit and had yet to get up.

“Flash!” Hawkgirl cried out.

Flash was too disoriented from the hit to run away. Shyera feared the worst as she saw the thug throw the grenade into the air. She, Wonder Woman, and Batman were out of range from the blast area. Unfortunately, that also meant they were too far out to save Wally.

But suddenly there was a shadow and a flash of red. It grabbed Wally and appeared to fly into the air to safely land on the nearby building’s rooftop.

The explosion flung Hawkgirl, who had attempted to rush towards Flash, backwards along with many of the criminals. Batman and Wonder Woman quickly disarmed them and tied them up as Shyera flew to the rooftop.

Hunched over a slightly conscious Flash was a shadow. As Hawkgirl approached on silent wings, the figure looked up. The first thing she noticed was the bright red hair. The second, she had the same bat-like ears and irisless white eyes as Batman.

Standing up, she spoke, “He’ll be fine, should be waking up any minute now.” Her outfit was almost identical in style. The only difference was that while Batman’s was black and dark grays, hers had a red belt and bat emblem in the same shade of her wavy hair.

As she knelt beside Wally, she thought, There’s no way she’s another kid of Batman. She’s too old. Could she be Batman’s ...

“I see we finally get to meet the Misses,” Shyrea smiled as Batman and Diana joined them.

“That is incredibly heteronormaltive thinking,” the red-haired bat replied.

Shyera didn’t know how to respond.  So she’s not his wife then?

“So… who are y--”

“Hi Aunt Batwoman!” Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman couldn’t help but jump as Nightwing emerged from the shadows. “You finally getting around to meeting B’s friends?”

Definitely not wife then.

“I still can’t believe that idiot even managed to make friends.”

Shyera couldn’t help but snort as Batman scoffed, “Excuse me?”

“Cat doesn’t count,” Batwoman told him.

Who’s Cat? Batman sure did lie when he said he worked alone.

As Batman opened his mouth to respond, Nightwing interceded, “The commissioner doesn’t count either.”

This time, Batman kept his mouth shut; he returned to the ground to finish dealing with the tied up criminals. Wonder Woman was smiling as she extended her hand to the red-haired woman, “It is a pleasure to meet you, and a joy to discover that there is another female hero.”

Batwoman shook the extended hand, “Oh uuum, the pleasure is all mine.” Shyera could see the woman gulp and try to recompose herself in front of the mighty Amazon. “And you’d be surprised how many of us there are.``

“Really,” Hawkgirl asked, “because I’m getting tired of always being surrounded by testosterone.”

“Who else is there,” Diana asked.

Before an answer was given, Wally suddenly gasped and sat up. His eyes were wide in panic for a moment before he calmed down. He looked around him, eyes landing on Batwoman. “Who’s this?”

“The person who dragged your unconscious ass away from a grenade.” Batwoman.

Flashes eyes widened for a bit before he glazed at Nightwing, who nodded in confirmation.

“Thanks… who are you?”

“Batwoman.”

Wally nodded, “So… any relation to Batman then?”

“Cousin.”

“Batman has a cousin?” Wally asked as Shyera thought, Cousin? I thought Nightwing just called her aunt?

“Yep.”

“Don’t worry, dude,” Nightwing smiled as he and Hawkgirl helped him to his feet, “She’s cooler than Batman.”

Batwoman grinned as she and Nightwing fist bumped, saying, “Hell yeah I am.”

I like her, and I hope to meet more of these female heroes she mentioned, Shyera thought. She really was getting tired of all the testosterone in the League.

Chapter Text

“You’re not coming.”

“But-“

“But no,” Wonder Woman stated. “You’re not ready for this, yet Cassie.”

“Diana’s right,” Wally added.

“There’s no time to argue,” Batman interrupted. “We need to leave now.”

Diana, Wally, and Oliver looked at each other with worry in their eyes before telling them again to stay behind before following the rest of the Justice League through the zeta tubes.

“This is so not crash,” Bart whined while flopped upside down on a chair.

Cassie agreed and it made her want to punch someone in the face. But unfortunately, only her friends Impulse, Robin, and Arrowette were around.

It wasn’t fair how much Diana treated her like a child despite how much heroism she had already accomplished.

But the Justice League had deemed this situation “too dangerous.” Like Professor Ivo’s Amazo robot breaking into CADMUS was anything new.

“Urg!” Cissie cried, “I hate it when they treat us like children!”

“It’s like they don’t trust us!”

“They say we don’t have experience, yet they never give us a chance to gain some!”

Bart suddenly perked up, “Then let’s get some by ourselves!”

The others stared at him. Robin spoke up, “What are you saying?”

“I mean,” Impulse explained. “Let’s go anyway and prove ourselves.”

“But we don’t even know the exact location.” Cassie pointed out.

“I know the location.” Robin stated.

Arrowette squinted her eyes at the boy wonder before changing into a grin, “You hacked the Justice League computer.”

Robin rubbed the back of his neck, “Not exactly. I um… helped Batman and Oracle design some of the algorithms and systems in use so hacking wasn’t really needed.”

“That’s so freezing crash man!” Impulse speed to his side.

“Let’s do it then,” Arrowette stated.

The rest of them grinned and nodded in agreement and determination. Soon they had a plan formed and were headed through the zeta tubes with Impulse screeching, “YOUNG JUSTICE HERE WE COME!”

Cissie giggled and shook her head, “You are so weird.”

Bart ran a lap around the room, “I am normal. Everyone else is weird.”

One hour later… 

This has been so moded , Impulse thought.

He, Robin, Wonder Girl, and Arrowette arrived just outside of the C.A.D.M.U.S. facility, with the intention of not being spotted immediately by the Justice League.

They had been spotted immediately.

Just not by the Justice League at least. No, they had immediately been attacked by Ivo’s robotic monkeys.

After that, Robin finally got to do some hacking and got them into the underground portion of the facility where some seriously creepy experiments had been going on.

They discovered that Professor Ivo’s Amazo robot had not in fact broken into the facility, but out of it. They saw the evidence of prototypes for the machine. Robin made sure to download all files from the work. He spent a brief period reading through the schematics.

They passed through labs where they were creating bio-weapons, genetically enhanced animals, robots for fighting, and other various inventions.

Then they came across the test tube babies.

At first, none of them knew what they were looking at. But as they walked through row after row of tubes, the globs inside them became more formed. Human formed.

“Are they,” Cissie asked in disbelief, “Growing humans here?”

“No.” Bart said, anxiety pooling into his stomach.

“It very clearly looks like it,” Cassie pointed out.

“Impulse is right,” Robin stared at Impulse from where he was standing with a CADMUS computer in front of him. “They’re clones of Superman.”

Wonder Girl and Arrowette both gasped.

“How is that possible?” Cassie asked.

Robin scanned through the report labs, “It looks like they’ve been trying for several years. Most have been a failure.”

“Most?” Arrowette repeated.

“This way,” Robin darted past several more rows of the giant test tubes. “Since they had a limited sample of Superman’s DNA most attempts at cloning have failed. Only recently have they tried combining human DNA with his. There have been 13 attempts so far. Two have resulted in sustained life.”

They pulled to a stop in front of two clones. Inside the tubes, suspended in a fluid, were two teenage looking boys. Their faces were identical and had more than a passing resemblance to Superman.

“Do you think…,” Wonder Girl wondered, “Do you think they are, you know… really alive?”

Bart knew the answer to that, but he had no way of saying that without revealing too much.

Suddenly the ceiling above them exploded.

Impulse vibrated with the speed force, ready to grab and carry the others away from the falling ruble. But he quickly saw that wasn’t necessary. Two cloaked figures, one black and one purple, were in the process of grabbing Robin and Arrowette and grappling away to safety. Impulse grabbed Wonder Girl and rushed to where the others were standing.

Superman had been thrown through several levels of the building, including a level below them. They only saw a brief glimpse of him before he was flying back into the fight.

The six of them stared at the series of holes he left behind before turning to look at the two newcomers.

The one dressed in all purple with accents of black they assumed to be Spoiler, whom they had heard of but never met. But the other had not yet been revealed to anyone. She was dressed identical to Batman, except black fabric had been stitched over the mouth opening.

Robin groaned, “Batman sent you, didn’t he?”

Spoiler’s face was covered, but her whole body showed a grin, “No, Oracle did.”

The other girl did a series of hand gestures that they immediately recognized to be sign language. First she crossed her arms over her chest, resting the left fist on the right shoulder and right fist on the left shoulder. She extended her pointer fingers quickly twice.

She switched to the next sign. With her right hand spread wide, she touched her thumb to the center of her forehead then lowered her hand to touch her thumb to the center of her chest. She closed her first, but let her pinky finger remain pointing out. With the back of her hand facing them, she touched her extended pinky to her forehead and extended her elbow to move her hand away from her head.

“But Batman told Oracle what you were doing, so it was probably his idea anyway,” Spoiler interpreted. “And you should be glad, otherwise you’d be buried under all that cement.”

They looked back at the mess Superman had made.

“Yeah, thanks for that by the way,” Arrowette said.

The shadow placed her flat hand against her chin and extended it towards them with the back of her hand facing them. Impulse’s mind flashed to a memory of an older woman covered in scars who talked with her hands.

Robin made the introductions. First he gestured to the teenager in purple. “This is Spoiler and this is Batgirl.” He gestured to the other girl.

Batgirl did a three part sign. She brushed the palms of one hand gently over the other. Then she raised the pointer fingers on both her hands and tucked the remaining fingers into her palms in a small circle. Batgirl bumped her knuckles gently together, like two people coming up to meet. She ended with pointing to Impulse, Wonder Girl, and Arrowette.

“Nice meeting you too!” Impulse grinned.

“I’m assuming you're another member of the bats?” Arrowette asked.

Batgirl nodded. She pointed at Robin. Then with a flat hand, she patted her chest twice. Then she brought her flat, open hands together toward the center of her body with palms facing each other while hunching her shoulders inward. Then she made an “L” shape with both her hands. One hand rested by her chest with the other beginning at her forehead and moved downward to her other hand.

Spoiler chuckled while Robin had a faint dusting of pink on his cheeks. Before anything more could be said. Batgirl snapped her fingers and pointed behind them towards the encased clones.

Their eyes were open.

And they were red.

Oh no… this can’t be happening… Not again!

In almost perfect sync, they shattered the glass of their tubes. Gasping for air they started pounding their fists into everything around them and let out blood curdling screams.

Wonder Girl leaped over and tried grabbing one of the clones, but he threw her off. Arrowette released a series of arrows at the other one. The arrows bounced harmlessly off of him while he grabbed a chunk of cement and hurled it towards them. While the four human vigilantes leaped away, Impulse sped up and ran circles around the clone, throwing countless punches.

While Wonder Girl and Impulse took the lead on fighting the clones, Arrowette and the bats created openings for them by shooting arrows and throwing batarangs and smoke bombs. While they were by no means winning against the clones, they were more than keeping up with them.

While fighting at super speed, Bart caught Batgirl signing to Robin. She pointed at the clones before making fists and holding them apart in front of her. As she brought her hands towards each other, her fingers spread wide.

Robin nodded and within 5 seconds he had come up with a plan and started giving orders. “We need to get them closer together. Then, Wonder Girl, use your lasso to catch them! We need to calm them down!”

“How is tying them up going to calm them down?” Arrowette screeched.

Spoiler piped up as she threw a smoke bomb in one clone’s face, “Well they won’t calm down if we keep fighting them!”

Impulse ran into the clone he was fighting at full speed to push him towards the other clone. Wonder Girl punch her’s backwards. With more pushes and punches, the two clones were soon standing back to back.

Cassie made a loop and lassoed it around the clones and pulled the rope taunt.

Robin and Batgirl slowly walked towards them with their hands on display. Batgirl was making a “calm down” gesture.

Robin gently spoke, “We don’t want to fight you. Waking up enclosed must have been scary, but we can help you.”

The clones were breathing heavily and shaking their heads. Robin crouched in front of them, “My name is Robin. What’s your name?”

By now, the red glow of their eyes had faded away, revealing bright blue. One of them spoke up, his voice cracking, “Subject 13.”

“Me want to talk,” the other clone rasped.

“That’s great!” Robin softly encouraged, “What do you want to talk about?”

“Yes! Me want to talk!”

“Okay, what-”

“Leave him alone!” The clone, Subject 13, yelled.

The other clone flinched at the noise, “Me want noise!”

He threw himself at Subject 13, ripping the lasso from Wonder Girl’s grip. Subject 13 yelled and pushed back, the lasso loosening around them. The clones grappled one another before one was thrown into a wall. They changed at each other. 

Only with his super speed was Bart able to see their fists collide with one another before an earth shattering sound rang around them, throwing everyone away from the impact.

Chapter Text

Bart’s ears were ringing.

If his ears were still ringing from the sonic boom the clones caused with a single punch, he felt deeply sorry for the ones without a healing factor. Arrowette and Spoiler both had their heads lowered into their hands. Robin was pinching the bridge of his nose. Batgirl wasn’t showing any sign of distress, but that wasn’t unusual for her. Batman, Green Arrow, and Martian Manhunter were kneeling in front of them and checking them for concussions. 

Turns out the Justice League finished their fight shortly after Superman fell through the facility. So when the clones had punched each other, the Justice League had immediately come along. While they caught one clone, Subject 13, who was currently in a holding cell built to contain someone of Superman’s strength, the other had disappeared. Superman was still out there searching.

The rest of the Justice League members were currently discussing what had been found at the CADMUS facility. So far, the teenage heroes had not been spoken to except for checking for injuries. Bart was not looking forward to that conversation and it didn’t look like Cassie was either. The bats and Arrowette probably weren’t either, but they had other things to worry about first.

By the time Green Arrow and Batman had cleared their protegees, all were staring at the teenagers. There was a mixture of emotions showing across the league members’ faces. Some with concern towards Robin, Spoiler, and Arrowette. Some with anger towards Wonder Girl and Impulse. Some with burning curiosity towards Batgirl. 

Green Lantern asked Batman, “Were you able to download all the files?”

“No, Robin did.”

The others looked between them as Robin handed a hard drive over to Batman, still looking unsteady.

Hawkgirl asked, “Who’s the new bat?”

Batgirl crooked her head as the Justice League members. Batman pointed to her, held his right hand up with his fingers extended but his thumb tucked against his palm, tapped his fingers against his chin, then pointed to the league members. His eyebrows could be seen to be furrowed through his cowl. 

It was a rare sight to see Batman display any facial expressions.

Batgirl shook her head. She pointed at Batman, repeated the sign he had just made, and pointed at the League as well.

Batman spoke, “This is Batgirl.”

Most of the members said hi to her.

“So what happened?” The Flash asked the teenagers.

Wonder Girl took the lead in explaining what they found and did at CADMUS. Fighting the robot monkeys, entering the facility, the experiments they saw, and the clones. They explained how the Justice League’s fight resulted in the clones breaking out.

“It’s a good thing Spoiler and Batgirl showed up when they did, otherwise Arrowette and Robin probably would have been seriously injured by the ceiling breaking right above us,” Cassie said.

“How did they know to come?” Wonder Woman questioned.

Batman answered, “After they decided to follow us I had-”

“Wait! You knew they followed us!” Green Arrow exploded.

“Yes.” Batman grunted. “Robin sent me the schematics of the Amazo robot which allowed us to-”

“And you just let them go by themselves?” Wonder Woman questioned.

“No.”

“Other teenagers don’t count.” The Flash gestured towards Spoiler and Batgirl.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?” Green Arrow demanded.

“Oracle was watching.”

“The computer?” Incredulated Green Arrow.

Wait, do they think Oracle is a computer program?  Bart thought. Even in his future timeline, they didn’t have computer programs that could do as good as Oracle.

“And they would call if they needed help.” Batman continued.

“Call?” Wally shouted, “They’re teens! They’re not going to call!”

Batman responded, “They call for help when they know they won’t get in trouble for it.”

Oliver stared, “You mean you’ll let those kids do anything as long as they tell you about it?”

“Yes,” Batman answered, his voice raising for the first time in the whole conversation. “Because I would rather get a call when they’re on the brink of death than to get a phone call from someone else to tell me they’re dead!”

Everyone fell silent at that.

Everyone knew what he meant.

Everyone but Bart.

Batman turned and walked away. Robin, Spoiler, and Batgirl all looked at each other before following him.

After that, the adults decided to let their proteges off the hook to focus on the clone of Superman and what to do with him. For now, the clone would stay at headquarters with a league member as a supervisor.

Afterwards, Bart asked Wally, “What was that about?” 

Wally grimaced and hesitated to answer. After sighing he began to explain, “There used to be another Robin before this one, but he died.”

Bart froze.

“I don't know many details,” Wally continued talking. “But his name was Jason.”

Oh no.

“When did he die?” Bart’s voice was practically a whisper.

“A little over two years ago.”

Bart doesn’t know what he responded. Doesn’t know what Wally said in return before walking to the rest of the league.

All Bart could remember at the moment was the man with grey hair that had a streak of white. The one who looked after all the kids at the base. The one who practically raised him. The one who everyone joked had a worse adopting problem than Batman did.

Jason, son of Batman, was alive in the future. 

It didn’t make any sense.

Jason Peter Todd Wayne wasn’t supposed to be dead.

Did Bart do something to cause it?

He’d already made so many changes to the timeline to make sure his future timeline didn’t happen.

But it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

But wait…

Bart had only come to the past a few months ago, and Jason had died over two years ago.

Did he… had Bart created a flashpoint event by mistake? Had his changes not only affected the future, but the past as well?

Was he the reason why Jason was dead?

Meanwhile in a private cemetery in Gotham…

A bloodied hand breaks through the ground and reaches for something. No, it reaches for someone. Someone who isn’t there.

Chapter Text

“What?”

“I’m calling in a favor,” Wonder Woman smiled into her Justice League issued communicator.

“I’m busy.”

“It hopefully won’t take long, given your skill set,” Diana said to Batman.

She could hear his annoyance, “What is it?”

“My Lasso of Truth has been stolen.” Wonder Woman confessed. “I was hoping you could help me get it back.”

“Fine.”

“So you will help?”

Batman grunted in response. Diana had spent enough time around the bat of Gotham to know that meant yes.

“Excellent!” She exclaimed, “When can you come?”

“Location?”

“Paris.”

Batman did not respond.

Wonder Woman asked, “What is it? Have you figured it out already?”

“No,” Batman grunted. “I am currently in Paris as well.”

“So you can come now?”

Batman growled, “Like I said, I’m busy. But I can come tomor-”

He suddenly cut off and Diana could hear the mumble of a voice in the background. She wondered if he was in the presence of a criminal or one of his children.

Hera knows he doesn’t interact with anyone else.

“Let me call you back.” Batman ended the call.

Diana waited patiently for nine minutes before he called back.

“I am unable to come until tomorrow, but Spoiler and Batgirl are with me and have volunteered to come now.”

“Yes!” Wonder Woman practically yelled in excitement.

“Send me your location and the girls will be there within the hour.”

She sent her coordinates and smiled in anticipation after the call ended. She had not seen Spoiler or Batgirl, or any member of the batfamily other than Batman and Robin, since the events at the CADMUS facility.

To say the last few months had been busy would be an understatement. Coordinating with authorities to deal with the illegal operations found were more headache inducing than smelling a lamia was. There were many incidents of improper handling of dangerous substances, theft of weapons, and fleeing board of directors.

There had also been the issues of the clones of Kal-El. Subject 13, given the name Kon-El, had needed medical attention to stabilize his cells a few weeks after leaving his artificial amniotic fluids containment. Luckily between J’onn’s knowledge and John’s access to Green Lantern Corps database, the child had been given the medical care he needed.

There were many concerns about the other clone that had escaped. Kal-El had spent hours searching for him, but failed. He was also struggling with the knowledge that despite being in jail, Lex Luthor had been cloning him, using both their DNAs. 

Batman referring to Kon-El as Superman’s son had not helped Clark’s anxiety.

But after many sessions led by J’onn and Dinah, the two had managed to hold multiple civil conversations without any meltdowns from either of the Kryptonians. The Young Justice members spending time with Kon probably helped as well.

Diana knew what it was like to be lonely and to have no one the same age as her. She had spent centuries as the only child on an isolated island. She was deeply proud of the teenagers for becoming friends with him.

That all said, the time consuming problems of CADMUS had not let her speak to Batgirl past her first introductions, nor let her ask Batman about her. 

She found herself smiling as she waited for the girls to arrive. In any free time she had in the past few months had been spent learning American Sign Language. Unfortunately, she had so far only learned the alphabet and common greetings.

While studying more signs, there was a nock on her windows. Diana smiled as she got up to open the windows.

“I was expecting you to suddenly appear in the room,” Wonder woman said as Spoiler and Batgirl climbed in.

Spoiler snorted, “Just because Batman doesn’t have manors, doesn’t mean we don’t either.”

Batgirl touched her forehead with her thumb while her hand was spread wide. She moved her hand away from her head in two small arches. She then taped her chin with an extended index finger while her other fingers were tucked into her palm.

Spoiler chucked at that. And after Diana asked what was said, she replied, “Oh, she was just agreeing with me.”

Batgirl nodded.

“So, let’s get started,” Spoiler clapped her hands together. “When was the last time you saw your lasso?”

“Last night,” Diana replied. “I left it here in my home when I went to meet with a friend.”

“Who all knew you would be gone?” Spoiler asked while Batgirl began looking around the room, checking windows and doors.

“Only my friend that I was meeting.”

“Who was the friend?”

“Dr. Barbara Minerva.”

“How long were you gone?”

“A little less than three hours.”

“Have you noticed anything else missing?”

“No, and I have looked.”

“What security system do you use?”

“None.”

The two bats stopped and stared at her, Spoiler from in front of her and Batgirl from around the corner of the kitchen.

“None?” Spoiler questioned.

Diana paused to think, “Well my front door and all the windows lock. Does that count?”

Spoiler and Batgirl looked at each other before the former responded, “Some physical locks are better than cheap electronic locks so it could be worse.”

Batgirl rejoined them and began to sign. Using two fingers, she made a “V” on both hands and she brought them together, overlapping her outstretched fingers. Then she used her right hand to touch her lips and moved her hand downward to rest it in her other hand, both palms facing upwards. She raised both hands and lowered them in a chopping motion. She made a thumbs up with her right hand and tapped the side of her face. She lowered her thumbs up to her side, made a thumbs up sign with her other hand, and tapped the center of her chest and her side twice.

Batgirl raised both hands with palms facing away from her and made small swatting gestures as if she were swatting flies away from her face. She made a thumbs up sign again but with her thumb extended towards her face. She tapped her mouth twice with her extended thumb. Finally she finished by overlapping her hands and rubbing the lower part of her parts together.

“Batgirl says that your locks are good enough for the average civilian, but not secure enough for your classified Justice League documents.”

“Oh,” Diana perked up, “I keep those in my safe.”

Batgirl pointed to herself and  shook her head no. She made a “V” with two fingers. She used them to point at her own eyes and then away.

Diana didn’t need to be fluent in ASL to understand this and knew that meant Batgirl didn’t see her safe, which was the point. “Come I will show you.”

With a smile, she led the girls to her bedroom. She gestured to the corner, “It’s right there.”

“There’s nothing there,” Spoiler said in confusion.

Batgirl stepped forward and turned in a circle looking for it before looking back and shook her head.

“That’s because it’s hidden with magic,” Diana grinned. “Would you like to see?”

Both girls nodded enthusiastically.

Diana spoke in the tongue of her mother, “ ἀποκαλύπτω.”

There was a shift of light as a safe appeared before them. Batgirl clapped. Spoiler gasped, “That’s so cool!”

“ κρύπτω.” Diana said and the safe vanished again.

Batgirl tapped on Spoiler’s arm. She pointed at Spoiler, at her mouth, and then at the where the safe disappeared from.

“ ἀποκαλύπτω.” Spoiler repeated with glee.

The safe did not reveal itself.

“Did I mispronounce it?” Spoiler asked with disappointment.

Diana shook her head, “That is the beauty of magic. The safe will only reveal itself for me.”

Batgirl pointed to Diana. She curled her fingers and thumb towards each other to make a circle, which Diana recognized to be the sign for the letter “o”, with both her hands. Her “o” hands faced one another as she moved them forward twice. Then Batgirl pointed towards herself and Spoiler.

“Yeah! Can you teach us how to do that?” Spoiler asked.

Diana laughed, “Of course, though I do not know many spells.”

Though their faces were covered, Diana knew in her heart that the girls were grinning with excitement.

“But first we have a job to do,” Spoiler turned serious. “It would have been easier if you had security cameras to see which-“

Batgirl held her arm in front of them, a holographic image hovered from the technology of her suit.

“Oh, the building next door has cameras.” Spoiler said.

Batgirl made an “L” with both her hands. One hand started at her chin and moved down to her other hand at the center of her chest. Then with both hands she extended her index and middle fingers with the rest tucked against her palms and points outwards. Batgirl pinched her index and thumb together with the rest of her fingers extended. She made a motion as if she was picking something up.

“Batgirl asked Oracle if there were cameras in the area and she sent this.” Spoiler interpreted.

The video showed a figure in black sneaking in and out of the window of Diana’s apartment.

Maybe I should look into better locks Diana thought.

From Batgirl’s wrist came an electronic voice, “ I’ve tracked the thief to a warehouse on the outside of town. Cameras show a person entering but not exiting. Sending coordinates. ”

“Let’s check it out.” Spoiler decided.

The coordinates were of an old brick building that looked to be several centuries old. They searched the perimeter before climbing up to see through the windows.

Spoiler tossed in a small ball through the window. At Diana’s confused expression, she explained it was a camera. She opened a flap on the arm of her suit to reveal an identical technology to Batgirl’s. She controlled the camera ball to roll forward to gain more surveillance.

Only it showed Batgirl holding a small person covered from head to toe in black by the collar of their shirt.

“Shit!” Spoiler exclaimed as she leaped through the window.

Wonder Woman looked around before following as well.

She’s more sneaky than her father is.

As they reached Batgirl, the person reached into their pocket and threw a white powder at Batgirl.

Batgirl dropped them in surprise. They started sprinting away. Diana began her chase only to collide with Spoiler who had been running towards Batgirl. Spoiler fell under Wonder Woman’s weight.

By the time she got up and placed Spoiler back on her feet, the figure had disappeared. Diana thought about giving chase, but decided looking after the girls was more important. She turned to look at them only to startle to a halt.

Batgirl had her face mask rolled up to her nose and had an ungloved finger in her mouth. There was a deep scar across her throat.

“DID YOU JUST EAT THAT!” Spoiler shrieked as she swatted Batgirl’s hand away from her mouth. “WE DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS!”

Batgirl shrugged and dragged a open hand down her chin and closed it into a fist

Diana took stock of the girls. Batgirl seemed unharmed, in fact she was smiling from her taste of the unknown powder. Spoiler was favoring her right side but seemed more preoccupied by Batgirl.

“And why did you just jump in there?!” Spoiler questioned.

A shrug was Batgirl’s only response this time.

Spoiler dropped her head into her hands and muttered, “I can’t believe how much I sound like Batman right now.”

Diana smiled, thinking about how she often exasperated her own mother with her choices and ideas. It was humorous to think of Batman in the same situation.

She opened her mouth to speak to Batgirl, but Batgirl was no longer there. She swirled her head around to find Batgirl walking to the corner of the room. In the corner was a familiar gold.

Batgirl grabbed the lasso and brought it to Diana. With her left hand holding the lasso, Batgirl used the other to sign. She held her hand in a fist about her heart and moved in a circle. She pointed to herself. Then she held her left forearm parallel to the ground. She made a “v” with her fingers and moved her hand from her elbow to her hand while curling the fingers inwards.

Diana signed “thank you” by placing an open hand on her chin and extending her elbow to move her hand forward before receiving the lasso.

Next, Spoiler contacted Oracle to see if the AI could track the thief to see where they went, but the individual fled through an area that had no cameras.

Spoiler sighed, “Well we can sweep the building for clues. Maybe they left some DNA.”

Batgirl and Spoiler surveyed the room and took sample swabs to test. Wonder Woman tried to help but was stopped when she started touching things with her bare hands.

The systematic movements of the tasks were identical to Batman’s. Diana thought, He has taught them well.

Soon they left the building. On their way back, Spoiler explained that they would run tests on the samples they collected and let her know if anything came from them.

Diana shrugged, “I am not too concerned about who the thief was now that I have my lasso back. Though I do plan on getting better locks.”

Batgirl nodded in agreement.

“Smart move.”

“Perhaps when I have done so, you can help test their effectiveness,” Diana offered, hoping to see the two again.

Both nodded and said they would love to.

Soon Batman came to pick the girls up. He was not happy to see his daughter covered in a white powder and whatever Spoiler was with a sprained ankle.

But Wonder Woman was more than happy to deal with Batman’s upcoming passive aggression for the opportunity to bond with his kids.

Chapter Text

Bart looked up at Robin.

Bart had grown up hearing so many stories about the world’s first, and only, group of superheroes. From the oldest to the youngest. From the smallest to the largest. The surviving heroes had shared the tales of their youths and the tales of those who were no longer there.

Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne had been among them.

He had been described as so many things. His surviving siblings had called him cunning but caring. His husband Bernard had called him smart but tended to get lost in his own head. Others said he was a better detective than Batman.

Meeting him had been something. He was everything that others described him as. But it still didn’t prepare Bart for seeing the outcomes of Tim’s plans first hand.

Bart thought he was prepared after finding out Robin had worn two domino masks for 11 hours so that when he was dared to take off his mask, he could while still keeping his identity a secret. Bart still didn’t know if Tim had manipulated them into playing Truth or Dare or if he had just known them well enough to know they would want to play.

Getting asked to come to Paris only to be knocked out by some agent dispensed like a smoke bomb and waking to Robin standing and staring at him had not been expected either.

“Tell me about the timeline you’re from.” Robin calmly spoke.

Bart flinched before recomposing himself, “Nope! First rule of time travel is not revealing anything about the future.”

“But you already have.”

“Hmm, no… I don’t think so.”

“You come from a future where super powers, meta powers, and heroism have been outlawed and most of the present heroes are dead,”

Bart’s jaw dropped, “How…?”

Robin gave a little shrug, “I’ve been watching you. How you act when you meet a hero, how warry you are of displaying powers in public, especially on camera, how you hide when you miss what’s socially acceptable and unacceptable. It all adds up.”

“All that and your conclusion is that the future is powers and heroism being outlawed? How?”

“Well I wasn’t sure of course,” Tim admitted. “But you confirmed it yourself.”

“Not crash dude.” Bart muttered.

“Now tell me about the future.”

Bart shook his head. “I can’t risk telling you.”

Robin sighed, “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but it's too risky! Time travel is…" Bart trailed off as Robin took off his domino mask.

Bart knew who Robin was, but he was shocked that Tim had just so casually revealed it. Next the gloves came off. Then, Robin reached underneath his cape and withdrew Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth.

“How… How do you have that?” Bart gasped.

“Spoiler and Batgirl obtained it for me.” Tim said as if that was enough of an explanation.

It was not enough of an explanation.

“Now, we’ll have to return it soon, so we better get started,” Robin continued.

“Start with what?”

You’re my friend Bart.” Tim said as he wrapped one end of the lasso around his own wrist. “But I’m willing to do whatever is necessary to save others and I can’t do that without information.”

Bart hadn’t gone to the past to make friends.

“I understand that anything, even the smallest of things, can make big changes. I don’t know the future so I don’t know what my actions will cause in the future.”

Bart couldn’t tell where Tim was going with this.

“But you don’t know the past well enough to know what caused your future in the first place. So I propose a deal. You tell me about the future and I tell you about the past. And together we can stop your timeline from happening.” Tim held out the other end of the lasso.

Bart stared at it, thinking about everything. About how Tim was right about him not knowing enough about the past. About all the changes he’s already made. About how he still hadn’t changed enough to make a difference. About how he had made changes that made all the difference in other ways. About Jason.

Bart grabbed the lasso of truth and wrapped it around his wrist in a mirror image to Tim. 

“You are everything and nothing like I imagined you’d be.” Bart laughed.

Tim gave an awkward smile before turning serious. “Tell me everything, but first tell me why you were so shocked to hear that Jason Todd was dead.”

And Bart told him. How in his timeline, Jason was alive. That he  took care of every orphan that the resistance rescued, treating them as his own kid, including Bart himself. 

Bart started crying when he told Tim that he thinks he may have created a flashpoint event and caused Jason’s death.

Robin didn’t respond at first. “I don’t think you’re responsible for his death.”

“There’s no other explanation!”

“Yet.”

“What?”

“There’s no other explanation yet.” Tim stated. “In the meantime, you can’t tell anyone else, especially Batman.”

“Obviously, the less people know of the future-“

“That’s not what I meant.” Tim interrupted. He chewed his lip for a moment before continuing, “If Batman thought you were responsible for Jason’s death, I don’t know if I could stop him from killing you.”

Impulse stared at Robin, “Batman doesn’t kill.”

“Usually yes, but he’s tried before. He’s only failed because others have stopped him.”

Bart had been hating himself for a while now. Nothing Tim was saying was changing that. If anything, he was amplifying the feeling.

“I’m going to prove that you had nothing to do with Jason’s death.” Tim promised. “Now tell me everything.”

And so Bart told him everything, starting with how powers became feared when Superman committed a genocide.

Chapter Text

Bart grew up not remembering what the sky looked like.

When the Resistance Fighters broke everyone out of the meta human containment facility. Bart couldn’t help but stop and stare at the night sky. 

It was beautiful.

Bart’s cell mates were rushing past him to freedom as sirens blasted.

But Bart was stuck in a memory that he had forgotten.

His parents had taken him out to see the mountains and they had stayed up late to star gaze. He had fallen asleep in his mother’s lap.

He woke up to his parents fighting the police as they dragged him away with a meta power damper around his throat.

“Move kid!” A man shouted at him, jolting Bart out of the memory. His white teeth were a contrast to the dark brown skin of his jaw, the only skin not covered by a yellow and black suit. 

A suit with a bat on his chest.

Duke Thomas was the first hero he met, or at least the first one he remembered meeting. Public use of super powers had been outlawed before he was born, and his parents had tried to keep as far away as possible.

It wasn’t because they agreed with the law, but rather it was to protect Bart. He remembers what his parents told him about his super speed.

You can do so much good with your powers, but no one can ever know about them.

Bart doesn’t know what led to him being detained in the meta facility, but he had been there since he was five years old. He stayed there until he was nine.

The resistance fighters broke into the facility to free every meta there and brought them somewhere they could be free from the government.

Their freedom laid in the city built in the caves and tunnels that ran below a waste land. The older residents referred to it as Gotham, but everyone else called the underground city by the name Pipisilunkon.

When Bart asked what the name meant, he was told that it was the Lenape word for bat. It was to honor the first people to make a home in these lands and to honor the heroes that lived there centuries later.

The first thing he and the other freed metas did in the city was being medically checked by Dr. Damian Wayne and then served a meal prepared by the city chef Bernard Dowd. It was the best meal the metas had had in a very long time.

The other metas had been thrilled with becoming citizens of Pipisilunkon. They had lives before being arrested and contained. But Bart hadn’t, he had very few memories of life before there.

The first time Bart saw meta powers being used was when a woman created a small fire in the palm of her hand to warm her mug of tea up. Bart had an anxiety attack, not knowing if the woman was going to kill someone with her fire or if the police were going to come and shoot her.

Bart spent the next several years learning that most of the things he had been taught were false. Having powers were nothing to be ashamed of. Using powers did not make someone evil. 

Jason Wayne’s kindness had been what made Bart believe the citizens of Pipisilunkon, to believe in fighting with the Resistance.

He learned the true history, not the propaganda he had been fed with a collar around his neck.

About 7 years after the formation of the Justice League, Superman had suddenly slaughtered an entire city within minutes. Afterwards, Superman had claimed that he had not done it, but allowed the authorities to arrest him.

The Bats had managed to find information that an organization called CADMUS, which had ties to Lex Luthor, had research projects related to cloning. While they did not have concrete evidence to give authorities, their leading theory was that Superman had been cloned. 

While in jail, Superman had been shot and killed with a Kryptonite bullet. Soon after, laws were passed that banned unsanctioned heroing. Over the years, more and more laws passed that restricted the rights of meta humans. By the time Bart was born, it wasn’t just the use of super powers that had been banned, but the people themselves. With the production of Amazo robots for police and military, those laws were easily enforced.

When Bart turned fourteen, he was allowed to start training to join fighting forces of the Resistance. The leader of the group was Duke Thomas, one of the strongest meta-humans ever. With him in the fight, everyone was stronger, literally. One of his powers was to amplify other meta-human’s powers.

The secondary commanders were Duke’s sister Cassandra and their niece Lian Harper. Intelligence was run by Barbara Gordan and George Stone.

While all of the Justice League and many other heroes had passed, their stories were still told. The citizens of Pipisilunkon had their own tales from their childhood, but Bart loved hearing them told from the remaining heroes who had been there in action.

Cass loved telling the stories of her childhood. Bart quickly picked up on ASL and soon it was common to see him in the library when her and Jason did story time.

Bart got to hear stories about his dad as a child, tales of his cousin Wally as a hero, and second-hand stories of his grandfather Barry.

Cass shared stories of her own family as well. They were filled with the love and hate that came from having a big family. There were the bad jokes Dick would say, the wild plans Tim would come up with, the laugher Stephanie would cause.

There was always a certain look that came when Cass talked about Stephanie. When Bart finally got the courage to ask, Cass shared the story about the love she had for a woman who loved purple and took immense pride in being a hero. And how she didn’t  understand her love until it was too late to share it.

Bart's favorites were when they overlapped. It made him long for a friendship that was as strong as Dick’s and Wally’s.

The stories never lasted. Eventually they came to an end. Cass’s hand would shake and stop moving, and Bart had no desire to learn how so many heroes fell.

Tim had his chin resting in his hand, a classic “I’m thinking” look. It had been a few weeks since Paris. Bart helped the bats give Wonder Woman her lasso back by pretending to be the thief (and for some reason the plan involved throwing powder sugar at Batgirl). 

For as fast as Bart’s brain could move, he still couldn’t believe everything that had happened. He had broken the first rule of time travel of talking about time travel. Bart had omitted as many details the lasso would let him. He only told Tim about how a clone of superman made by CADMUS had posed as Superman and killed a whole town which led to stricter and stricter metahuman and alien laws in the following years.

Bart and Tim agreed that the infiltration of the cloning lab and befriending Kon was a good step away from Bart’s future timeline, but there was still another clone out there. Tim said that he would take the lead in tracking the other clone down. The sooner he was found the better. Kon had needed medical attention to stabilize his cells, who knows the condition the other clone was in, if CADMUS hadn’t found him already.

“So part of the issue is that metahumans and aliens become feared,” Tim thought out loud.

“Yep,” Bart agreed. “Fear can cause logic to run away.”

“And how do we fight fear?”

“By being nicer?” Bart guessed.

Robin chuckled, “No xenophobia comes from a lack of contact with people from a different community. When there’s an economic or social hardship, people look to blame someone. The target is always someone that people don’t know enough about so they can make up any lie imaginable and others will believe it because they don’t know anything about them to begin with.”

“So we tell the truth about clones before Superman can be blamed?”

Tim shook his head no, “That could put Kon in danger. No, what we need to do is let the public know more about heroes and their superpowers so they don’t start to fear us.”

“What? You think Batman will suddenly start letting people interview the Justice League?” Bart had heard more than enough stories to know about Batman’s infamous paranoia.

“No, we go on social media, that way it will be easier to keep it from Batman. By the time he finds out, we’ll already have the public’s trust.”

Bart stared at Tim’s determined face for a few seconds before asking, “What’s social media?”